Lecturer/Senior Lecturer

School of Social Sciences

Role

At NTU, Michele Grigolo is contributing to the development of public sociology within the Sociology Division, particularly around issues of human rights and cities. He is developing this idea of the human rights city from a sociological perspective, working on a number publications. At the same time, he is proposing the human rights city as a new language and framework under which a progressive and participatory agenda for local civil society and local governments can be discussed, negotiated and promoted. Michele Grigolo is also teaching in several undergraduate courses and guest lecturing in modules at graduate level.

Career overview

Michele Grigolo has an international academic career. He holds a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) and the European Masters Degree on Human Rights and Democratisation from the University of Padua (Italy), which is currently awarded by the European Inter-University Centre on Human Rights and Democratisation (EIUC). After completing his PhD, and before joining NTU in 2014, he worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (Portugal). Michele Grigolo has an international research experience. He has been visiting student at New York University between 2005 and 2006, and then visiting scholar at the University of Essex, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and the University of Pittsburgh. In 2003, he was awarded the Robert Schuman Scholarship of the European Parliament, which he spent at the DG Research in Luxembourg. In 2002, he spent five months at the Danish Centre for Human Rights to complete his Masters thesis. He has collaborated with practitioners on a variety of projects, including as a consultant. His work has been used by Amnesty International Belgium to support a local political agenda of human rights.

Research areas

Michele Grigolo’s research interests revolve around issues of human rights, equality and non-discrimination. His early research focused on the international and legal dimension of human rights and looked critically at the development of LGBT rights within the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights. Beginning with his PhD, he has shifted his attention on the connection between 'human rights and the city' and, in particular, how local governments define and implement human rights, including anti-discrimination policy, at the macro- but also micro-level of construction of human rights. He is currently working on a series of articles and books (including an edited volume and monograph) which define and articulate the idea of the human rights city, at empirical and theoretical level.

External activity

As an expert in human rights and cities, Michele Grigolo has done consultancy, either alone or as part of a team, for projects commissioned by international organisations and agencies, including the European Parliament, the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union and United Cities and Local Governments.

He is a member of the British Sociological Association (BSA), the Law and Society Association, the International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion (IMISCOE) and the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law (RCSL) of the International Sociological Association (ISA). Since 2014 he is co-convenor of the BSA Sociology of Rights study group.

Sponsors and collaborators

He is often invited to speak at events organised by United Cities and Local Government or particular cities, e.g. Gwangju (South Korea) and Vienna (Austria).

Publications

Books

2013, Fighting discrimination in Europe: The case for a race-conscious approach, New York, London: Routledge. Co-edited with C. Hermanin and M. Möschel.

Articles in peer-review journals

2011, "Incorporating cities into the EU anti-discrimination policy: between racial discrimination and migrant rights", Ethnic and Racial Studies, 34(10): 1751-1769. Special issue “Should and does Race and Ethnic Origin Count in Fighting Discrimination?”.

2011, "Introduction: How does race 'count' in fighting discrimination in Europe?”, Ethnic and Racial Studies,34(10): 1635-1647. With C. Hermanin and M. Möschel. Special issue "Should and does Race and Ethnic Origin Count in Fighting Discrimination?".

2010, "Human rights and cities: the Barcelona Office for Non-Discrimination and its work for migrants", The International Journal of Human Rights, 14(6): 894-912. Special issue on "Sociology and human rights: confrontations, evasions and new engagements".

2010, "Shifting from academic 'brain drain’ to ‘brain gain'", European Political Science, 9(1): 118-130. With M. Lietaert and R. Marimon.

2009, "Towards the 'Fifth Freedom': Increasing the Mobility of Researchers in the European Union" Higher Education in Europe, 34(1): 25 – 37. With R. Marimon and M. Lietaert.

2003, "Sexualities and the ECHR: Introducing the Universal Sexual Legal Subject", European Journal of International Law, 14(5): 1023-44.

2013, "Introduction: How does race ‘count’ in fighting racial and ethnic discrimination in Europe?", in M. Möschel, C. Hermanin and M. Grigolo (eds.) Fighting discrimination in Europe: The case for a race-conscious approach, New York, London: Routledge. With C. Hermanin and M. Möschel, 1-12.

2013, “Conclusion. Rethinking the fight against discrimination: the case for a race-conscious approach”, with C. Hermanin and M. Möschel, in M. Möschel, C. Hermanin and M. Grigolo (eds.) Fighting discrimination in Europe: The case for a race-conscious approach, New York, London: Routledge, 134-145.

2011 "Human rights and cities: the Barcelona Office for Non-Discrimination and its work for migrants", in P. Hynes, M. Lamb, D. Short and M. Waites (eds.) Sociology and human rights: new engagements, New York, London: Routledge.

Reviews

2014, "Homosexuality and the European Court of Human Rights", Sexualities (forthcoming).